THE heat will be on neighbours from Hell when a £300,000 mobile CCTV camera unit is set up in Kirklees.

A rapid response video unit is to be set up by the police and council to deter criminals and thugs who terrorise estates.

The unit features a van with two cameras attached and four movable cameras which will be fixed on brackets in particular areas when trouble flares.

The van would also be linked up to the Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR) so users can check whether cars involved in offences are stolen.

A report to the council's Cabinet Committee: Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, yesterday said there was a constant demand for extra CCTV schemes in may areas of Kirklees because of crime and disorder problems.

But offenders could often move around locations and it was not financially viable to install CCTV cameras in all of them.

The mobile unit would enable police to target crime and disorder hotspots.

Clr Ann Raistrick said it was hoped to link the van up to the police communication system.

She added "There's a huge amount of interest from other services in this approach.

"If it shows to be effective in terms of crime and anti-social behaviour, environmental services are thinking in terms of catching flytippers, and the highways department for counting and observation."

The 12-month pilot scheme will co-ordinate existing resources so police, highways officers and estate wardens will combine forces to help tackle crime.

Councillors heard that similar schemes are already under way in nine other parts of the country.

Philip Sands, chief executive of North Kirklees Primary Care NHS Trust, who sits on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund Cabinet Committee asked whether there were robust methods in place to measure the effectiveness of the unit, as it was a pilot scheme.

Clr Raistrick said there were effective ways of auditing the effectiveness of programmes.

Clr Paul Battye said: "The concern for me is that the police would back it up.

"If something was taking place would they be there in ten or fifteen minutes?

"That is the only way we are going to improve a real reduction in crime.

"There is no good having cameras if all we are going to have is taped evidence because the police are too far away to turn up."

Mr Sands said: "There is a real issue of presence on the ground."

Clr Raistrick said that the unit would go where the statistics showed were the worst areas for crimes being committed.